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CTV News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Artists in Fredericton residency program put public work on display
Tucked under the shade in Fredericton's Botanic Garden, Gary Crosby hammers and chisels, giving a large log new meaning. Slice by slice, the wood chips fall and a face forms. He's carving a mythological Green Man. For the seventh summer, public art is on display and the city's Artist in Residency program is offering a window into the world of how someone's creativity becomes their creation. 'The Green man is a combination mixture of a human figure and forest leaves and growth. It's usually a sign of spring,' Crosby said. At Killarney Lake Park on Fredericton's Northside, Sarah Maloney eyes her surroundings to inspire her creations. Last week she embroidered flowers. This week, she's making wax moulds of Lady's Slippers and finches that will be cast in bronze. Her work responds to the natural world. Art is how she understands it. Fredericton Crosby and Maloney are Fredericton's latest summer Artists in Residence. 'It's how I make the world make sense through looking at things and making things in response to the things I see and learn and observe and collect and immerse myself in the natural environment,' Maloney said. Crosby and Maloney are Fredericton's latest summer Artists in Residence. It's a rotating program that lasts two weeks and includes eight artists between the end of June and August. Each gets a weekly stipend from the city. 'They're in residence for two weeks. And they just get to create based on their environment. And it's an opportunity for people using the park to meet an artist, see what they're up to,' said Angela Watson, Fredericton's Cultural Development Officer. Crosby joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1981 and has toured in Germany, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Afghanistan and Honduras. Carving offers an escape. 'The rest of the world falls away, and I just focus on what I'm doing,' he said. Thirty monarch butterflies he carved now rest atop the rafters of Fredericton's Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge, a popular spot for locals and tourists alike. He's also made sculptures of Mother Nature and a Green Man for Fundy National Park. During his residency, he will also construct a sculpture that will feature in a short story. 'There's a short story which I'm building into a book about, a young UNB student who finds a Green Man in the forest that just sort of came to life,' Crosby said. Maloney is a contemporary sculptor and textile artist. A survey of more than 25 years of her work will be on display at Fredericton's Beaverbrook Art Gallery until Oct. 19. The works are part of an exhibition called Sarah Maloney's Pleasure Ground: A Feminist Take on the Natural World. One of the highlights includes a display called Water Level, which exhibits several bronze water lilies and lily pads on steel stems. When walking through, you can imagine walking through a pond or lake at water level. But on this day, her focus is on a workshop for the public. It's part of the residency. 'Mostly it's to pique their curiosity about things and get them to see something in a new light,' she said. Last week she taught embroidery. This week it's clay modelling. Steve Banks brought his two granddaughters back to this week's workshop after enjoying the first week so much. 'Spending a couple hours quality time, it's nice,' he said. Both artists bring people along for their journey. 'Any of this stuff I've got here, they get to see it being created and being done and what my thought process is as I go through it,' said Crosby, adding that seeing art hanging on a wall or in a gallery or shop is one thing to actually talk to the artist as they create it is another perspective. 'It just creates more questions. And the inquiring minds want to know.'
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Monarch butterfly sculptures on Fredericton bridge send environmental message
Thirty delicately carved monarch butterflies greet walkers and cyclists who cross Fredericton's Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge, which spans the Saint John River. Each brightly painted wooden butterfly has a wing span of about two feet, and has been handmade by artist Gary Crosby. The butterflies are one of Fredericton's temporary public art installations. This flutter of monarchs is part of a project Crosby calls A Splash of Colour. "It could achieve all the aims I wanted to achieve with public art," Crosby said. "But at the same time have a message — an environmental message." WATCH | 'Whimsical' public art installation to greet people all summer: Angela Watson, cultural development officer for the City of Fredericton, said the public art selection committee was "enchanted" with Crosby's project. "I think visually it's just a lovely, whimsical piece that we knew people would enjoy on the bridge," Watson said. "This monarch butterfly display will also provide an opportunity to educate the public about the environment and the importance of plants and butterflies." Crosby came up with the idea about a year ago but says his interest in sculpture and wood carving was inspired by his time in the military. He spent four years in Germany's Black Forest, an area that is known for its iconic cuckoo clocks. "Everything's painted, everything's carved, sculpted. There's art everywhere and it was four years of just being completely buried in art," he said. A peacekeeping tour in Rwanda is where Crosby realized he could be a sculptor or carver. He was clearing out a university and came across a classroom where people had been learning woodcarving. The teacher had filled the room with his work. "That's how he taught carving to all his students, because they could see each piece as it was being cut," Crosby said. "I looked at that and thought, 'I think I could do that.'" It was at that moment that Crosby decided to take up woodcarving. On the walking bridge, cyclists, runners and families out for a walk can be seen stopping to look up at the butterflies. And while many people in Fredericton can count on seeing Crosby's installation, seeing a real monarch is much less likely. Ryan Godfrey from World Wildlife Fund Canada says there has been a 90 per cent decrease in the number of monarch butterflies found in Mexico over the last 30 years. The monarch is one of the few butterflies that migrate from southern Canada to Mexico each year. Godfrey says this biological phenomenon makes them vulnerable to extreme weather events that are becoming more common due to climate change. "Fewer monarchs are arriving back to their overwintering grounds and when they do, they're really stressed out. A lot of them are really beaten up, they might have holes in their wings or they might be a lot smaller." Monarch butterflies were listed as endangered in New Brunswick and every other province except Newfoundland and Labrador on the species at risk registry in 2023. "It's an indicator of a larger systemic problem in the ecology," Godfrey said. "What we might not be noticing is, hundreds of other species of insects that are also in decline and that are collectively a really important part of the food web." According to Godfrey, the decline in monarch populations can be largely attributed to habitat loss, pesticides and climate change. He says planting "thousands of milkweeds," a plant that monarch caterpillars feed on, is the best way people can help. "I really do believe that the monarch population would respond quickly to that," he said. "We could return the landscape to a habitat level that's similar to how it was hundreds of years ago." Crosby, who spends a lot of time in his garden with his wife, hopes his project will inspire people to learn more about monarchs and to plant some milkweed in their own yards. He already has plans for his installation, which will be on the bridge until October. Crosby hopes to display his flutter of butterflies in cities around the province, and is planning to add other butterfly species to the project.
The Guardian
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Nottingham Forest v Manchester City: Premier League
Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature To fans of a certain vintage, this particular fixture means one thing above all else. Rear-view mirror, Andy, rear-view mirror! Anything today as cheeky, saucy, controversial and/or flat-out hilarious as Gary Crosby's famous March 1990 winner, and we'll be doing just grand. Keep 'em peeled, everyone. Kick-off is at 12.30pm GMT. It's behind you! on! Share
